If you needed proof that horror is having a serious cultural moment, here it is: A24 has tapped upstart filmmaker Curry Barker to direct a reimagining of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, one of the most iconic and untouchable titles in the genre's history. According to Hypebeast, the project is now officially in motion, and the director attached to it is someone worth paying attention to.
From $800 to A24
Barker's origin story is the kind that feels almost too good to be true. He made his feature debut with Milk & Serial, a horror film that cost just $800 and found a massive audience on YouTube. That kind of scrappy, resourceful filmmaking clearly caught people's attention in the right rooms, because it wasn't long before he landed a deal worth $14 million USD-plus for his follow-up project, Obsession.
That rapid ascent - from micro-budget YouTube horror to A24's trusted creative partner - says a lot about both Barker's talent and the current appetite for fresh voices in genre filmmaking. A24 has a strong track record of backing directors who bring genuine artistic vision to horror, and this hire feels very much in that spirit.
Part of something bigger
The film isn't the only Texas Chainsaw project in development right now. It sits alongside a previously announced television series being produced by Glen Powell and directed by JT Mollner. The fact that both a prestige film and a TV series are being developed simultaneously suggests there's real momentum behind bringing this franchise back in a meaningful way - not just cashing in on nostalgia, but genuinely rethinking what it can be.
That's where Barker's sensibility could make all the difference. Someone who built a following by making something scary and compelling on essentially no budget understands how to use tension, atmosphere, and storytelling instinct rather than leaning on spectacle alone. Those are exactly the qualities that made the original 1974 film so enduring in the first place.
Why this one feels different
The Texas Chainsaw franchise has had a bumpy few decades, with reboots and sequels that mostly failed to recapture what made Tobe Hooper's original so viscerally unsettling. But a filmmaker with Barker's indie credibility, paired with A24's commitment to craft, gives this reimagining a genuinely different energy. It's not a guaranteed slam dunk - but it's the most interesting this particular chainsaw has sounded in a very long time.
